THE cost of raising children has hit the $1 million mark as parents fork out for expensive toys, lessons and technology, research suggests.

Social researcher Mark McCrindle said the Federal Government's estimate of $384,543 to raise a child to 18 was wrong,

Adding the cost of electronics, private tutoring and sports and dance classes, and considering the average child now stayed at home until 24, the real cost to the Australian parent of raising children was $1,028, 093, he said.

"Parents have more money per child, and spend more money per child than their parents did," he said.



"Generation Z, born since 1995, are the most financially endowed generation of children ever. Every child has their own set of everything. We are not in the era of shared toys or hand-me-downs," he said.

He said the average family had 2.7 children and, with 30 per cent of primary students and 40 per cent of high school students in non-government education, parents were more prepared than ever to invest in their kids.

"Parents are spending their after-tax dollars on something that is provided for free, . . . because they want the best for their children."

In a national report on Generation Z, toys and gift trends for Christmas, Mr McCrindle also found the average Aussie child had more than 100 toys but that parents threw out or gave away only five toys a year.

Almost all Aussies admit spending more than $100 on toys per child each year, with a small portion saying they splashed out $500.

He said the strong trend this Christmas was to revert to traditional pastimes, such as science kits, wooden toys and educational games over simplistic plastic toys.

He said nostalgic wooden train sets, toolkits and dolls were making a comeback, along with outdoor toys.

"Free play is out, structured activities are in, and for Gen X hyper-parents, toys have given way to learning tools," Mr McCrindle said.

Mother of two Sarah Tehan, 41, said with every child wanting an iPod or laptop, costs were huge. "There is pressure on people to feel they have to buy them because other kids at school have them. You want them to fit in," Ms Tehan said.

The McCrindle research was carried out with 4500 Australians.

It is a garbage figure. And how do I know? the same way every other parent that has raised 2-4 children and wondered how they managed to spend $2-4M on their kids when they didnt even earn 1/2 that much in total.

This figure is based entirely on a Brady Bunch figure where the parents ahve unlimited money and the kids get everything they want.

it is pure rubbish.

You gotta spend your money on something. This is not the real cost, just a reflection of how much money people have.

I`ve seen some of the bargai basement models aroud the place.

The cost of the birth, baby bonus, Family tax payments etc would all be taken into consideration to get to this figure for the average person.

Even if you raise your children on a moderate wage - the cost is still phenomenal and ongoing. There is no cut off point at 16 or 18 as there used to be a couple of decades ago. Children live at home longer today unfortunately.

Just supply their needs and don't cater to their every whim, and you could save yourself a fortune. Life is much less expensive when you don't have to keep pace with the Jones's.

Just say the average worker earns $50,000 a year, over 18 years that's $900,000.

But most will do it for less than half of this figure.  Suyre, if you buy them the latest toys whenever they want them, it adds up, but seeing as how a cardboard box or a balloon is more appealing at a young age than a $100 toy, you just need to spend a bit wiser.  As they grow, its also much more expensive to buy them a new console and games rather than a football...

Ex Dame Pansi wrote on Sep 7^th, 2010 at 11:17am:




The baby bonus wasn't spent on golf clubs!
It was spent on new things for the little one. I paid for new golf clubs same time as the baby bonus (and they weren't anywhere near $5k!) but we still spent a lot of money on the new arrival.

That's just how it is.

Overall we were about even yes, but in regard to capital outflow it's a lot of money to be paying up front.

Look at the obstatrician fees. A$5,300. That still has to be paid up front before you can claim anything back.

It's a lot of money.

Don't get me wrong, my little girl will want for nothing and I am proud to be able to give her what she will need. It's not a chore.